A small spot for me to publish random thoughts that might help other writers find that tiny voice echoing feebly inside their heads.

Tuesday, April 05, 2016

First Meetings - We Are the Champions

I
am a big fan of first meetings, or the Meet Cute as they are called
in romantic comedies. These often set the tone for the relationship,
and tell us a lot about how the couple will interact with one another
later in the story.

Asher
Wilkinson is an actor with an improv group, much like Whose Line Is
It Anyway, that performs at a local club. They each take turns acting
as MC and this night, it's Hansel's turn. Gay and in a committed
relationship, Hansel always likes to look out for the romantic
interests of his friends. As MC, he chooses participants from the
audience and tonight, he chooses the lovely, poised Ruby for Asher to
improvise a song about her job.

Asher
grinned, waving as the ladies cheered. Hansel made a big show of
choosing someone from the audience, but Asher knew he'd made his
decision before the show even started. An attractive, well groomed
woman rose from her table three tiers up. Hansel met her, holding her
hand as he asked her name and profession. She was average height,
with walnut brown hair and melted chocolate eyes. Her full lips were
tinged ripe cherry red. Her figure was trim, but well padded in all
the right places.

"Hi,
I'm Hansel." He held out his hand, taking hers.

"Ruby,"
she replied in a well modulated alto.

"What
do you do, Ruby?" Hansel asked.

"Spend
other people's money," she said with a toss of her long, brown
hair.

"Oh,
really? That sounds fun. Are you an identity thief?" Hansel
teased.

"Well,
Ruby, the Personal Shopper. Asher here is going to sing you a song.
Would you like that?"

"I
can't think of single a thing I'd like more." Ruby walked up the
two steps to the low stage, stopping in front of Asher. Her dark
brown eyes gave him a once over from his short blond hair, to his
blue eyes, brilliant smile, broad shoulders and down. Did her eyes
linger on his fly a moment longer than they had on his face? Biting
her lip, she took his hand. Asher grinned, ducking his head, trying
to keep his face from showing his delight in meeting her.

Marissa
glared at Asher before beginning to play. Hansel hadn't specified
what genre the song was to be, so she chose the one she knew Asher
liked the least, boogie-woogie. It wasn't that he objected to the
genre, per se, but he found the rhythm hard to put lyrics to.

Instead
of sitting still on the stool, Ruby got up, took his hand and started
dancing. Asher took full advantage of the situation, swinging her
around the stage, showing off his dance skills. The lyrics forgotten,
they danced another minute or two until Marissa got to the end of the
song and abruptly stopped playing.

Applause
was uproarious. Ruby's friends started a standing ovation. Asher
twirled Ruby under his arm, catching her before lowering her into a
dip so deep, the ends of her hair touched the floor. Raising her
slowly, he held her close. Ruby lost her balance, swaying toward him.
He steadied her and she pressed one palm to his chest. Asher closed
his eyes for a second, inhaling her scent, before releasing her.
Hansel saw her back to her seat and Asher stood on the stage,
watching her walk away.